Jarad Fennell

Star-Crossed Lovers is my submission for the Game Chef 2011 contest, an rpg based on the works of Shakespeare and utilizing the keywords of daughter, exile, nature, and forswear. It was inspired by Much Ado about Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet (of course), and the rpgs Kagematsu and Misspent Youth.

In this game, the players take the part of Renaissance suitors, courting both the favor of their father-in-law and the affections of their bride or groom-to-be. While the rules assume a group of male suitors suing a father for the hand(s) of the patriarch’s daughter(s), the game could just as easily center around a group of ingénues or a mixed group visiting the villa with marriage on their minds. The action takes place over the course of a week spent at the default setting of an Italian villa owned by Signore Torregrossa. While the match is all but assured due to careful planning on the part of the suitors’ parents, what the suitors do and say during this week will determine the future happiness of their marriages.